Rough Night

An incredibly wacky comedy revolving around a quintet of girlfriends who want to celebrate one of their own's bachelorette party. As it happens, some slightly bigger trouble happens during this party full of alcohol, dancing and drugs. At times, some of the characters got on my nerves, but I still had a good time and I also liked that they threw in a few slightly surprising moments that pulled the clichéd script out of the sub-average. A totally goofy one-viewing ride that definitely shouldn't serve as inspiration for hosting any bachelor party. (09/03/2017)

An average movie (actually more like below average), but when I turned off my brain, the film didn't make me suffer in any way. Zoë Kravitz wasn't bad to look at (just like her mom), and Scarlett Johansson thankfully didn't have that determined look she tends to go for in Avengers films. I even got to laugh during some scenes, so instead of a serious critical review, I'm giving it three stars. (01/30/2018)

Surprisingly, quite a dark comedy, which however lacks dialogues that only the Coen brother can manage in similar situations. (03/06/2018)

Though it is similarly short on laughs like Baywatch (only Kate McKinnon’s Australian accent and Peter’s troubles are consistently amusing), Rough Night is objectively better directed, which is apparent in its smoother and tighter narrative, steady pace and meaningful positioning of characters in space (or, in other words, someone thought about where and why a particular actress would sit/stand). Rough Night has almost no dead spots that don’t serve the narrative in some way (the only superfluous moments are the sex scene in front of the security camera and most of the other scenes with the lustful neighbours), but it’s just much less funny than you would expect from a film backed by the makers of the excellent Broad City. I find it most inspiring to watch Rough Night as a female remake of Peter Berg’s morbid comedy Very Bad Things, which is based on the same premise (though it’s the boys’ rather than the girls’ night out that goes fatally off the rails). We laugh at the protagonists of Berg’s film because they are terrible imbeciles and we don’t care how far out of control the situation gets. Conversely, the makers of Rough Night try to humanise the female cast and justify the women’s behaviour in various ways, which doesn’t fit well with the cartoonish gags. As the storyline with Peter shows, the film is funniest when it doesn’t in any way spare the protagonists and doesn’t try to make them sensitive human beings (because, due to the runtime and the nature of the plot, that would necessarily involve a half-hearted effort). Similarly, Rough Night could be compared to, for example, The Hangover, which is also much more uncompromising towards the protagonists. It seems that, in comparison with television channels, Hollywood movie studios do not have the courage to present female characters who will overstep the limits of social norms, whether with a creative (Broad City) or destructive (Daisies) result, without apologising for it. (Another typical aspect is that when the women talk about penises, menstruation or HPV, they do so among themselves or in private, so as not to offend those around them, which conversely is often the basis of the humour in Broad City.) However, Broad City’s uniqueness consists in the fact that the women behave in a manner that is contrary to the expectations of (patriarchal) society and thoroughly enjoy doing so. 55% (06/22/2017)

Once something is happening, then it's good, it's funny, and it has the right drive. But once all the participants start talking a lot, it's no longer the same, and it becomes just awkward, without any proper lines, and with the ladies behaving, pardon the expression, like cows. No exceptions. Overall, an interesting cast that is killed by unnecessary chatter lacking depth or humor. (09/04/2017)